A California woman, Eleanor Belshaw, died in Oregon Thursday afternoon when a commercial truck crashed into her parked motor home. The woman's husband received minor injuries and was transported to Mountain View Hospital in Madras for treatment.

The woman was seated in the driver's seat of the motor home while her husband was outside the motor home standing on a ladder repairing an awning.

At the same time a Freightliner truck pulling a semi-trailer was southbound on Highway 97 approaching a northbound 2000 Kenworth truck towing a semi-trailer. As both commercial vehicles were passing in the opposite direction, the Freightliner truck sideswiped the left rear semi-trailer axle pulled by the northbound Kenworth truck. After impact, the northbound truck continued off the highway before stopping. The southbound Freightliner truck drove across the northbound lane and crashed into the driver's side of the parked motor home.

Eleanor Belshaw did not have a safety belt on while seated in the parked motor home (it wasn't moving) and was ejected. She was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Her husband, Alexander Belshaw, was thrown off the ladder and was transported by ambulance to a Madras-area hospital for treatment.

As is usually the case in commercial truck accidents, the driver of the truck that struck the Belshaw's motor home was not injured.

Truck accidents are different than other vehicle accidents because of the federal laws that govern the trucking industry. Federal regulations require that certain evidence must be maintained, but only for a limited amount of time. For example, the semi truck driver’s log may be destroyed after six months if a truck accident lawyer does not obtain a court order or take other immediate action.

Pritzker | Ruohonen represents people injured in commercial truck accidents and the families of people killed in commercial truck accidents. Both Fred Pritzker and Rich Ruohonen have been named "Super Lawyers" by a legal magazine. To contact an attorney at Pritzker | Ruohonen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's online consultation form.